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GM and Stellantis Back Rare-Earth-Free Permanent Magnet

Cars That Think

For several years, the automobile industry has grappled with a straightforward question: Is it possible to produce a powerful, efficient, and mass-producible synchronous motor that contains no rare-earth elements at all? GM isn’t the only automaker on a hunt for rare-earth-free permanent magnets.

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Letting in the Light

Electric Auto Association

Within a few years, outreach efforts by these chapter members at local electric vehicle (EV) events had grown to include presentations at conferences around the country, and eventually around the world. It was like the early days of the automobile industry when everything was so scattered,” Smith explained.

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How Carmakers Are Responding to the Plug-In Hybrid Opportunity

Tony Karrer Delicious EVdriven

GM has announced plans for public sales in 2010, and almost every carmaker now says it will sell PHEVs or highway-speed battery electric vehicles (BEVs) sometime after 2010. The electrification of the automobile is inevitable." When Lutz first proposed creating an electric car in 2003, the idea "bombed" inside GM, he says. "I

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The Magnet That Made the Modern World

Cars That Think

The two project leaders— Masato Sagawa of Sumitomo and John Croat of GM—surprised each other by announcing their results at the same conference in Pittsburgh in 1983. Masato Sagawa of Sumitomo (left) announced the invention of a revolutionary neodymium-iron-boron permanent magnet at a conference in Pittsburgh, Penn., Croat: Yes.

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GM Says Chevrolet Volt Won't 'Pay the Rent' | Autopia from Wired.com

Tony Karrer Delicious EVdriven

But it is a price that must be paid, and GM should be commended for remaining committed to the Volt. It isa fundamental change in direction for GM. GM will leapfrog Toyota and Honda by providing an electric car to the masses by the end of next year. GM is developing more fuel-efficient vehicles. Thats short-sighted.

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